Mt. Hood Snow Trip

Isn't this beautiful?? I miss snow and mountains.

Last Saturday I went on our youth snow trip to Mt. Hood. I have to admit after the crazy busy day before I had shooting a wedding, the last thing I wanted to do Saturday morning was get up early and spend the whole Saturday away from my family. But it ended up being a really fun time and a beautiful day (Well, the time we were tubing was beautiful - as soon as we got back to the parking lot it started raining and rained almost the whole way home! Talk about lucky!)

I could not believe how deep the snow was - you'd think a girl from Utah wouldn't be so impressed by the depth of the snow at Mt. Hood, but I have been an Oregonian for 9 years now. If I could guesstimate, I think I'd guess that the snow was 15+ feet high from the parking lot. We had to hike in the snow a bit (sinking down every other step) to get to this big hill and I do not own a pair of snow pants. I didn't even think about asking to borrow any until too late Friday night. Oh well. I was a little uncomfortable, but the two girls that came in regular pants AND regular shoes (no boots) were in even worse shape that me. We all survived though and had so much fun, we didn't even notice the wet. Here are a couple cute pictures of the crew.

We discovered that any time three people tried to ride down together, it always ended bad! Most or all of the 3 would be thrown off eventually. (O:

I saved the best for last.

I am a chicken. Let's just get that out of the way. I planned on just watching the girls and boys and crazy adult leaders have a fun time while I stayed safely at the bottom. But I am also easily talked into things like this with the right encouragement (not annoying pestering). Even though I am a chicken, I also have a side of me that wants to live life, try new things and not be a fuddy duddy. I want to experience new things (not that I've never gone sledding before - it's just been a LONG time.) and I want to have fun and let loose. You only live once, right?

So, when my friend Kelly sweetly encouraged (notice - not pestered) me to come along and said she'd go with me, how could I say no? She grabbed the tube and started carrying it up before I could decline. As I climbed up the steep hill, I wondered how I'd feel about this idea when I looked down from the top. I am terrified of heights. Then when I looked down from the top . . . YEP it was scary. And it seemed so steep. Luckily, we didn't have to wait long for our turn or I would have surely had time to mentally freak out.

I just got on the tube and yelled at Dave (pictured above in yellow slicker) to not push us too hard. I should have kept my mouth shut - that was asking for it. And as you watch the video below, I will admit - the blood-curdling screaming is coming from my mouth. It doesn't even sound like me and I am so far away from the camera microphone - how is it so LOUD? I wonder if Kelly is having a ringing in her right ear this week?

So this video is dedicated to Kelly, who helped me do something scary. Even though I looked/sounded like a fool - I'm glad I went ahead and did it. It was fun.

Please notice too that we very nearly crashed into another person along the way - so my fears weren't all unreasonable. My life passed a little before my eyes for that split second. I am grateful it all ended well. (o;

And here's a funny one of one of the guys taking a tumble. Just for fun. The guys definitely had some more exciting tumbles. The best was when one of the young men went off the jump shown in the video below and landed head first up to his neck, in the snow. Unfortunately, my battery died before that one.